43
New MetroParks policies address old grievances
YOUNGSTOWN
When Mill Creek MetroParks board member Tom Shipka laid out proposed changes for park operations at a recent board meeting, his aim was healing not just the wounds inflicted earlier this year on the MetroParks’ relationship with the community, but older wounds as well.
Shipka, appointed to the board last month, was acutely aware – based on dozens of discussions he’s had with concerned community members, staff members and others with an interest in the park system – that relationships had begun to sour some time ago.
“I think the killing of the Canada geese, followed by the reorganization ordered by the executive director in February, triggered a groundswell of interest in the park, the likes of which I haven’t seen before in my lifetime,” said Shipka.
Shipka was referring to the June 2014 euthanization of 238 geese and goslings by the park, an act that set off a wave of public outcry. The geese killing spurred a small but dedicated group of wildlife advocates to pay closer attention to the park for the past two years.
Representatives of that group – Save the Wildlife in Mill Creek Park – have showed up at nearly every subsequent board meeting since the geese episode, repeating their call for the park to adopt changes to its wildlife management. The group consistently has asked the MetroParks to devise a written wildlife policy, and to hire at least one staff member whose job it would be to oversee wildlife management.
Until now, the calls largely have gone unanswered.
In July 2015, Executive Director Aaron Young told The Vindicator the MetroParks would not adopt a written wildlife policy and would not rule out the use of lethal wildlife-management methods.
Shipka’s proposals, however, might give wildlife activists the voice they have long sought.
Among his proposals, all of which were approved at the July 11 board meeting, is one that establishes nine standing committees that will advise the board on policy matters. One of those committees will focus on wildlife.
Each committee will have five voting members “with knowledge of and interest in the area(s) of concern of the committee to which he/she is appointed,” according to Shipka’s proposal. Board members will recommend applicants to the board president, who will appoint committee members.
“The people’s input that I have seen for the past five months in the wake of the staff cuts, and previously in the wake of the killing of the Canada geese, has been largely an attack on the executive director and the board, in very sharp language, usually during the segment for public comments in regular board meetings,” said Shipka. “If the board is going to prosper ... we have to find an effective mechanism where people can provide input on an ongoing basis to advise the board. That’s what the standing committees are for.”
Save the Wildlife is supportive of the step, but its sights remain set on the steps it has asked the park to take.
“We are very glad that a committee will be formed, and will be able to give their input,” said group member Angie Bradian in an email.
She detailed wildlife advocates’ concerns, such as nonhumane methods of managing wildlife and animal trapping that occur in the park, and said the group remains firm in its stance that the park needs to hire a wildlife specialist and draft wildlife policies.
“Will the forming of the committee satisfy us and the community? We will have to wait and see. It’s a step forward,” she said. “But in the end, we will only be happy when the safety of the wildlife is secured.”
“So the committee will at least afford concerned citizens the opportunity to communicate with the park and offer some great ideas that will benefit the animals and the park,” she said. “In the end, it’s not what the park says that counts. It’s what the park does that will matter to us and the animals.”
Shipka acknowledged that the committee structure might not yield the exact results for which some people might be looking.
“I don’t see that we’re going to solve all the problems in a few weeks. But at least we will have the instruments now to get knowledgeable people involved in a structured way,” he said.
Committees are slated to be set up by the start of 2017.